Poignant play to be performed at Middleton-in-Teesdale touches on real life rural issues

THE first ever play to be staged at the Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services base in Middleton-in-Teesdale couldn’t be more appropriate to the area.
Here I Belong is a sensitive, charming and honest portrayal about changing village life and the right to grow old in your own home.
It takes the audience through decades of a fictional village’s history seen through the eyes of one elderly village resident – Elsie.
The play shows Elsie at four key moments in her life.
Firstly, there’s a party in the village hall for the Queen’s coronation in 1953, and when Elsie discovers she is pregnant.
Then the play moves to the 1979 general election, with the hall as a polling station and when Elsie’s daughter announces her intention to leave home.
The audience is transported to 1996 when the England football team nearly got into the finals – but Elsie’s sport-mad husband is poorly.
Finally, on the day of the show, it’s Elsie’s 90th birthday party, and she must decide whether to stay in the village or to move into care.
The play is being staged by Shropshire based Pentabus, the nation’s rural theatre company, as part of the and regulars with Highlights Rural Touring Scheme.
Diane Spark, Utass project manager, said: “I think it’s a very appropriate play for the first one to come here.”
She said some of the issues raised by the play would be “close to the knuckle” for some members of the upper dale audience.
“We would love to stage more Highlights shows – it depends on the success or otherwise of this first one,” she added.
The play will be staged tonight, Friday, November 11.
Included in the ticket price is a hot supper of sausage casserole, which will be served between 6.30pm and 7pm, with the show starting at 7.30pm.
Tickets are £10 for adults and £7 for children and are available from Utass on 01833 641010.